Aaron Collins' Mechanisms Chapter 3
by Psychoflop
Summary: A day in the life of the band Phoenix Crysalys and their helpers: Laura, Megan, Jen, Jonathan and Heather


Chapter 3: A day in the life of band and helpers

Fabio then fast forwarded his story to about 2 years ago. His memory of the day that changed everything for Phoenix Crysalys was quite clear (the stories that follow that Fabio is not in directly are based on what the helpers told him after the fact). He began with the end of Phoenix Crysalys's band rehearsal in an old church they purchased at auction. It was grandiose and acoustically perfect, much like the band's sound. It had a Nature motif across the entire main room, with vines all the way around the ceiling. Except of course, for the red, clear and green stained-glass window. It was a secret homage to the Italy that was conquered.

"Great job, everyone." announced Chiara. "The Temujin's Forces album will be ready to be indented to metal discs just as soon as we cut a deal with a blacksmith."

Karl (being the eldest) did not share Chiara's enthusiasm, he had a history of music projects overreaching in his native upper Zealand. "Do you have any idea how big the disc will have to be in order to hold almost 80 minutes of music?"

Chiara's and Fabio's faith did not rattle. Even though they appreciated and even encouraged Karl to play devil's advocate against them (Gregg and Phoenix had the same privilege). It was not an attitude shared in many musical groups, and with the French Republic being something of a world power, 3/5 of the band come from other continents.

"If needs be, we will split the music into 2 discs and release them a year apart."

Karl was relieved, Gregg was not. "That'll make things a little easier to get the discs out of the French Republic. But a lot of other lands do not favour artistic expression."

Fabio knew that to be true from any of the non-local bands. Gregg came from the BritIrish dominion of Canada where they hold disc burning galas of all non-BritIrish music. Phoenix came from the Hudson Bay Company where they just confiscate the discs, and then sell them for 10 times their price. Karl came from Upper Zealand which had no problems with the arts but the distance was so great that the discs often got lost at sea. Fabio walked over to a list of respected newsboys and girls all over the world as well as trusted delivery people and transporters. After a cursory glance, he answered: "Upper Zealand has a daily trade ship with Japan so after Beneluxanyland, the Eurussian Commonwealth and Siberolina it'll be an easy journey. And we've had people in those places for years. For the great new world to the west, we use the Lord Hudson River and other small bodies of water to our advantage. Actually once we clear the First Nations wall, we'll be left alone."

The town clock struck 11:00am for all of montegran to hear. Phoenix smiled, "We should pack up and head out. Busy Sunday ahead with picking up our helpers and the weekly meeting. We'll split up to get each helper then meet up at the corner of Harbour Street and Market Avenue"

Chiara and Fabio nodded. The Cliano was moved to the North Wall thanks to wheels Fabio installed. Phoenix and Karl put their Clesonator and Clesonaste on wall-mounted racks that they recently bought. After everyone turned their attention to Gregg and took apart the clums, they ventured out into the town.

Jonathan De Keyzer welcomed his newest client into his home, a man in his early 20's with blonde hair and green eyes. They walked upstairs to the main room, which was painted off-white to better reflect the sun coming in from the window. The home itself had only 3 rooms: the art room where Jonathan was setting up, a simple bedroom and a third room meant to entertain company (all of the band's helpers had a place exactly like his). This was a "full-body" sketch setup earlier in the week, and while Jonathan had his inspiration, he technically may not have the words:

"My Esperanto isn't so good." began Jonathan nervously."It's ok" replied the client. Earlier that week Fabio told Jonathan that this 1 wished to remain anonymous, and Jonathan obliged. A minute later, he found out why...

...as the client took off his clothes. Jonathan had no reaction, this was not his first nude sketch, and certainly would not be his last.

"I wish to highlight your hair and eyes. Can you afford my use of coloured lead?"

"Yes I can."

Jonathan nodded, "Ok, back to the window, lean on my wall and smile."

The client followed his requests, and Jonathan began drawing him. The body frame of the nude subject was so easy that Jonathan was done in under a minute, after some muscle tone and the agreed upon colour, Jonathan was finished (not even an adjustment of the client was needed). "Ok, that'll be 16 francs and 50, please."

The client handed him a 20 franc coin, "No change, that was so quick and professional. I'll show myself out?"

Jonathan nodded, "Yes, and thank you for being such a natural subject. Have a great afternoon."

They shook hands and parted company. Jonathan then took his coin over to a dresser that contained many others, along with a notepad containing his records. "Ok, 11 head sketches, 6 body sketches, 3 other. That's 290 francs, Fabio gets 145."

A lot of people in the French Republic are opposed to using a sketcher from Beneluxanyland but Fabio uses his influence amongst the artisans to get Jonathan more customers in exchange for half of the money. Jonathan had just finished separating Fabio's cut when there were 3 knocks at his door. Jonathan put the coins into a bag and went downstairs to answer, happy to see the friend who kept him from poverty in a clockpunk world. Jonathan opens the door:

"Morning Jon."

"Morning Fabio, good haul this week. 145 francs"

Fabio and Jonathan exchanged hugs. Then Fabio reminded him "Not a competition, my friend. But this will go towards a tour in the autumn; we may even swing by Amsterdam. You can see your family for a couple of days."

Jonathan smiled at that, "That would be nice. Anyways, I have the rest of the day off unless you found me another short-notice client."

Fabio shook his head, "No. But we're picking up the helpers for lunch and depositing the week's money."

Jonathan glared at Fabio, "My cut includes tips. I'll pay for myself."

Fabio nodded in acceptance, Jonathan got the money for Fabio and some of his own money and they headed out.

"How did the arm hold up at rehearsal?" asked Jonathan.

"Well. I'm almost 2 years without a replacement arm, so I can't complain."

The townspeople glared at them. They looked the other way when Jonathan sketches the naked but they couldn't handle that his best friend was a gear-body.

1 down, 4 to go

"Aboard an old pirate ship as thieves that we be, we plunder and pillage the Adriatic Sea. We only steal metal for coin and for gears, and we'll keep on stealing for many more years."

It was a simple shanty sung by the crew of the most profitable pirate ship of the French Republic, but it was sung with glee (just like the pirate Captain Heather Stitt, wanted) as they docked at Montegran Pier #2. Heather travelled down to the cargo deck from the poop deck to see if her first mate had finished totaling the inventory of the morning take. Piracy was reasonably tolerated as long as you provided more legitimately earned goods than the goods that you stole from other ships. And if you looted a ship that did not call the French Republic home, you might even get a pat on the back from the local constable or customs agent.

"So my first mate, how much seafood did we get?"

"Ho, ĉirkaŭ 200 funtoj." (_Oh, about 200 pounds_)

"That'll be good to last the week on the open market. Now how much...OTHER...stuff did we get?"

The first mate lifted a small chest onto a nearby scale, "20 pounds on the nose, about 7000 Beneluxanyland marks. Is your contact coming to help you launder it at the bank?"

Heather nodded, knowing that her First Mate (a copper-haired youth named Rocco) was referring to Chiara. Pirates always needed a money and goods launderer on land to funnel the dirty money in exchange for a cut, and Captain Heather was happy to make a deal of honour with a music maker that she actually liked. Luckily her ship was 1 of the smaller ones on the sea, with only a 1st mate, 2 mates, an engineer and a cook to take care of.

Heather excused herself with the chest to her quarters to change into something more land-worthy. It was just a room with a bed, a chair and a desk (no decoration) in the port section of the lower decks. She actually stopped changing long enough to empty the chest into a large cloth sack for her to carry. Lastly, she re-attached her right leg while saying, "A gear-body pirate's life for me." she then headed back upstairs to depart the ship. The crew took no mind as they were handling the fish to sell on the market.

"You know, a century ago pirates considered ladies on deck to be bad luck." came a greeting of a girl on land.

"Oh Chiara, how I've missed you."

The ladies exchanged kisses. They looked at each other like they rarely saw each other.

"7000 marks today. Will your bank change over that much money to francs?"

"Shouldn't be a problem. 300 francs for each of us. Your half should keep you and your crew going for a month."

Heather nodded in agreement, happy that she could stay on land for most of a day. Plus, she remembered that it was meeting day. They left the pier together, leaving the ship behind.

"Thanks for servicing this old gearbody. I think you're the only courtesan in the French Republic who lets a gearbody even touch her."

The courtesan known as Jen Du Lemons understood that to be prejudiced against gearbodies was to rob one's self of half of the potential earnings. She detected an accent in his voice suggesting he was Spanish, Castilian or Portuguese (which explained his large height, build and tan). She decided to impress her Esperanto on him to make things easier, "Mi akceptas monon kaj donaco de la tuta homaro. Gears ne gravas." (_I accept money and gifts from all Mankind. Gears do not matter_).

He gave a faint smile as he put his loincloth and hands back on. "La libro mi donis al vi enhavas la lastajn lecionojn polyrhythms." (_The book I gave you contains the latest lessons in polyrhythms_).

"De Barcelono?" (_From Barcelona_)

He nodded.

"Dankon, mi jam havas aĉetanto en menso." (_Thank you, I already have a buyer in mind_)

"Samtempe venontmonate?" (_Same time next month?_)

"Kompreneble" (_Of course_)

He nodded and showed himself out, more than satisfied with the service. Jen then walked over to a desk with a mirror mounted on it. After pondering for a minute, she left it on the desk, saying to herself "He'll be here to pick me up soon. I'll keep it next to me." She took out some white powder and began applying it to her face. She needed to touch herself up between every client, especially Antonio (the man who just left). "He's good looking and kind. Maybe I'll give him a free one on his birthday. Hope I get a few girls next week."

It wasn't long before she finished. She even separated her week's take into 2 piles (1 for her, 1 for Gregg, 500 francs each) in advance. Her being a helper to Phoenix Crysalys was a unique case in that she came from the same land (even the same town) as the band member she reported to. She and Gregg left the Chingacousy township at the same time due it being too...labour-intensive for their liking. They loved pursuing knowledge and arts (Gregg music, Jen was more business-minded). So they took every freelance job in Ontario they could. Gregg must've played Clums in every band in York, Jen caught the eye of Chingacousy's deputy mayor and shared her bed for money for weeks. When they had enough money they caught a flight to Lisbon, then 1 to Rome. After a week Gregg saw an audition notice for Phoenix Crysalys, took it and landed the role as Clummer.

It seemed like such a long time ago, but Jen didn't miss the BritIrish dominion of Canada and neither did Gregg. They had a new life here, and were the best of friends. She knew his knock as he was making it, and hurried down the stairs to greet him.

"I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"No Gregg, you didn't." replied Jen with a smile. "Here's your cut for the week, 500 francs and a gift I arranged for you." She handed Gregg the book she received not half an hour ago.

"Polyrhythms? Holy shit Jen, thank you so much."

"My pleasure."

They continued walking towards the corner of harbour and market, enjoying midday in the republic.

"Ok, you're all set. 40 francs."

A scruffy looking gentleman in his 40's took out a 50 franc coin and waited for Laura to make change, "Thank you. You're the only mechanic who tightens and adjusts double amps like me."

"That's terrible. It's not your fault that you lost your legs."

"No. Getting bit by 2 different rats is really unlucky. I'm glad that they'll be putting Greece under quarantine now."

"So am I."

Greece had no government to speak of in this world. The anarchy and civil war was merely background for the plagues that decimated the nation, Athens would in fact be a ghost town...if they had any ghosts.

Laura Bradley was what some worlds would call a "wrench wench". Someone who made a living making the mild adjustments and repairs that gearists could not be bothered with. It was a simple lifestyle and 1 that was very quick and easy to learn, even for a girl from beyond the first nation's wall. She walked over to her appointment sheet to see how busy she still had to be today.

"One more appointment for the day, single limb to be adjusted, left leg. Wow, Phoenix is coming back in for her gear already. I'll be happy to see her."

There came a small voice from behind Laura, "Happy to see who? Is there another immigrant in the French Republic named Phoenix?"

"None that I know of." Laura and Phoenix hugged, then they took seats sitting across from each other, about 7 feet apart. Phoenix took her leg off while looking around Laura's shop. It was a converted wooden barn (with some remaining hay in 1 corner for customers who are vulgar enough to travel on horseback), the "waiting room" was merely a bench located 20 feet behind Laura. There was no receptionist or even a private office, but it was enough for Laura.

Phoenix finished taking her leg off and handed it to Laura. On initial inspection, the bolts on each side of the knee were in shape. But moving down to the feet she saw something odd.

"Get another rock caught in your ankle?"

"Oh yeah, on the walk over here. I had no mobility so go ahead and remove it. Worst case scenario you break my foot without hurting me."

They shared a long laugh over that, some jokes never get old.

Laura (to her astonishment) never has to do much in the maintenance of Phoenix's leg. In our world, they would be called tune-ups.

"Ĉiuj farita." (_All done_)

No payment took place, but Laura did have a bag of money for Phoenix as a tribute for her referrals. "Slow week, only 125 Republic Francs."

"It's ok Laura. Every bit helps."

Laura turned a dial, several loud clicks emitted across the shop, "Ok. Every door but the front is locked now, we can head out."

Phoenix nodded, snapped her leg back on, and they left together.

4 down, 1 to go.

"Our maestro who art amongst nature, hallowed be your name, inventions, principles, sketches and paintings. Your museum come, your will be done, on earth as in earth. Give us today our daily ink. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, whether they be of gears or not. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. [For art and science which are as one, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.] Amen."

"Amen."

"Ok, this is the final, heads-up portion of the monthly No-Limit 2-7 single draw poker tournament. 2's are low, aces are high, Straights, Flushes, Pairs, Sets and Quads count against you as this is a worst hand wins game. Mr. Depardieu, Mr. Cousteau, please shake hands then shuffle up and deal."

Megan Hayes was the first female priest in the church of Da Vinci to leave Canberra, Upper Zealand for the French Republic in over 100 years. She ran a tight ship in a church 3 times the size of the band's, especially when it came to the poker tournaments. She was actually in the French Republic for a year or 2 before Karl arrived so when Karl was granted a helper, she volunteered because he reminded her of home.

The 2 card players shook hands, Megan dealt and about 200 onlookers (eliminated players and Da Vinci's faithful) stood on. For the next little bit, I will be writing the hands played based directly from notes given to me by Megan's co-worker, I hope the players were honest to her in regards to their hands.

3000/6000 blinds, Depardieu had 211,000 in checks to Cousteau's 189,000. Depardieu is Dealer/Small Blind, Cousteau is Big Blind.

Hand 1: Depardieu raises to 18,000 with King-Ace-5-5-Queen, Cousteau calls with 3-9-J-3-4. 36,000 in the pot, Cousteau takes 2 cards, Depardieu takes 4. Depardieu bets 18,000, Cousteau folds. Depardieu 229,000 to Cousteau's 171,000. No notes regarding how each player improved their hand at the draw.

Hand 2: Cousteau raises to 18,000 with King-10-8-7-2, Depardieu calls with Ace-Queen-9-4-2. 36,000 in the pot, both take 2 cards. Cousteau checks, Depardieu Pushes all-in with 9-8-6-4-2, Cousteau calls with 8-7-6-3-2. Depardieu falls victim to a trap and is down to 58,000 to Cousteau's 342,000.

Hand 3: Depardieu goes all-in with Ace-King-10-6-5, Cousteau calls with Ace-Ace-5-4-3. Depardieu takes 3 cards and goes to Queen-8-7-6-5, Cousteau dumps his aces and wins with 9-7-5-4-3.

They shook hands again as Megan went to fetch the prize money. It was a 200 Franc buy-in, 150 people bought in. The church took a 10% cut (as is the standard to cover expenses), leaving a 27,000 franc prize pool for the top 15 players. Mr. Depardieu took 3,780 francs for 2nd place and Mr. Cousteau took 8,640 for the win. After roughly half an hour of schmoozing amongst the players, the crowd left the church allowing Megan to clean up and settle the books for the week.

"Ok let's see. 3,000 francs from the tournament, another 1,000 in donations, 4,000 total, Phoenix Crysalys takes 15% for sending us additional players. So their cut is 600, Karl should be here soon enough."

Phoenix Crysalys took a smaller cut here in the church of Da Vinci than in their other interests because Megan was somewhat more independent than the others. Actually, if she hadn't needed to fill the final few seats, the band's cut would've been even smaller. Being a church, Megan had a rare access to paper envelopes. So, putting the money aside for Karl was easy. Which was just as well, as Karl knew to knock on the door of Megan's private office and not on the door of the church itself.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"No Karl, the money's in the envelope to my right."

Karl grabbed the envelope as Megan took her midday dose of Noresigohol.

"How's the new arm working?"

Megan grabbed her prosthetic right arm, having recently lost it in an explosion of the local chemist's office. She had been promoting the church of Da Vinci on the street one evening when a student tried to make a batch of Noresigohol drunk on bootlegged wine. She considered herself lucky, as 16 people were killed.

"I taught myself how to write left-handed, it will reduce the strain on my right shoulder. I'm happy to be a part of a church that doesn't persecute the left-handed."

Karl nodded, aware that some religions do not treat their potential followers with dignity and kindness. He shook off that thought and looked inside the envelope: "600, wow, I guess the tournament was a smash."

"Oh it was, thank you guys so much for getting some fans filling the last 10 or 12 seats for me."

"Our pleasure. Ready to go?"

"Absolutely."

They walked together, arm in gear-arm. But not for long, for the church of Da Vinci was on Market Avenue and it was only a few minutes stroll to Harbour Street. They saw Chiara, Fabio, Phoenix, Gregg, Heather, Jen, Laura and Jonathan almost as soon as they were outside. A plethora of hugs were exchanged as the helpers didn't see each other save for these meetings on account of being so busy on most days. The bank and the restaurant were on the other side of town so they flagged down a group transit vehicle known as a gearus. It seated up to 12 people, was long, rectangular, 15 feet long, 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide. You were charged for each time the driver had to wind the propulsion key located in the front of the vehicle. Each wind (to my best guess) equaled 1 km, this was a 4 km trip so it ran everyone 30 francs counting the tip.

They reached the First Bank of the French Republic about 10 minutes later. Chiara and the others were relieved to arrive before they closed up shop for lunch. Chiara entered the bank alone while everyone else remained outside.

"Bonan tagon sinjorino Chiara, ĉu ĝi estos granda deponejo hodiaŭ?" (_Good day lady Chiara, will it be a big deposit today?_)

Chiara needed to do some math in her head, what money went into the account, what money went back to Heather and what money she kept for the band's weekly expenses.

"Jes sed mi havas ankaŭ monero interŝanĝo fari." (_Yes but I also have a currency exchange to make_)

Chiara made sure to separate the Francs and the Marks to make things easier.

"Ok, 1 deponejo formo kaj 1 monero interŝanĝo formo venas dekstre supre." (_Ok, 1 deposit form and 1 currency exchange form coming right up_).

Chiara smiled as the teller got up and left. Chiara looked around and saw the bank, it was painted blue throughout and had custom-made desks scattered about. There was no line for waiting customers as people were tended to quite quickly. The teller (whose name was Frank judging by the placard on the desk), returned with the forms. As per bank policy, Chiara had to separate the marks and francs by denomination, then write down how much of each denomination. Frank to his credit showed a lot of patience (Chiara was probably his last customer before his lunch break). Chiara then remembered that not all of the money was going to the bank. "170 devas iri en mia sako, kaj 300 devas iri en la sakon markita 'Heather'" (_170 must go in my bag, and 300 must go in the bag marked "Heather"_).

A look of dread came over Frank's face, as he wondered whether or not Chiara was working with the BritIrish pirate Heather of the Porch Clan. He decided not to press the issue, it was not his affair who his customers socialized with. And there were worse people in the world than pirates. He nodded and put the 470 francs into the 2 sacks, then carted the rest into the back for safekeeping. After a few minutes, Frank returned with a new smile on his face. "Ĉiuj aro tie, havas belan tagon." (_All set here, have a nice day_). Chiara stood up and said, "Sama al vi, afabla sinjoro" (_Same to you, kind sir_). She headed out the same way she came in. In the time she was in the bank, a crowd had gathered around a street lantern, including the band and helpers. Chiara walked over and joined Fabio and the others, "What's going on?"

"They're expanding the number of musical acts who are playing in the Rome Olympics this year. They're having auditions in Rome."

"When Fabio? What date?"

"On the festival of Samhain."

"So we have about 4 months to be ready. The Olympics is the holy grail of gigs. If we get this we never have to worry about when our next show is ever again. I suppose we have more to talk about at the lunch meeting today, don't we?"

Fabio nodded, "Oh boy, do we ever. Let's eat"

They had just finished ordering a sampler platter for 10 at the Robin Marketplace. Karl buried himself with the band's paperwork, but the minutes of the previous week seemed irrelevant. So instead he was going over the last year of bank statements, as he knew that transportation to Rome wasn't cheap, not to mention the bid bands make to play in exchange for Olympic profit sharing. After going over the numbers 3 times, he decided to share his findings:

"Guys, unless we average 280-400% more money, we won't have enough money to cover the bid this fall."

The other 9 looked at each other in shock, they were actually expecting a higher number. Jen was the first to do the math in her own head to check Karl's work, "So either we work 18 hour days, or we get more helpers."

Heather raised her hand, "I vote for more helpers." The other helpers concurred.

To the band's credit, they trusted Karl's and Jen's judgment. Especially Phoenix, "Ok, so we expand to include more helpers. But who do we trust? It's not as if we can just pick any old fan or friend of the band, they may be unavailable. I know one girl from my Fort Kingston days, Tina the Driver. Gregg, Jen, don't you keep in touch with Aaron?"

Gregg and Jen nodded awkwardly as Gregg spoke, "Yes, but he's writing that novel of his where he gets killed and no one knows who did it. OH, we do have a big customer in Mount Royal, East Ontario. She's a sketcher like Jonathan...Catherine Girouard is her name."

Megan looked up at the sky, "Well, as long as we're getting help from all over the world, I know a fellow preacher in New Germany who plays your stuff in church. Her name is Holly Rapp."

Heather racked her brain, "Sometimes when I get New English Pounds Sterling or goods I give them to a different contact in the New English colonies to exchange as it's easier to get paid. Jess Felix has always wanted to see the French Republic."

Karl remembered another fan in Upper Zealand, "It'll be a challenge but I think I can get Julie Bourke. She just turned gearbody so I'm sure she could use a change of scenery, assuming Sydney is as prejudicial as I remember."

Fabio took delight in these suggestions, and had 2 of his own. "If there are ways to get them here by flight I would love to get Elizabeth Bowman in New Spain and Tamara Costa in New Japan."

Laura finally spoke up, "Can we get a couple of people that are more local? Solveig won't take long to get here from the Danish Republic."

Chiara followed Laura's lead, "That would make sense. Oh, Leila the Lioness would be perfect if she can get out of the Eurussian Commonwealth. Ok, are we all agreed?"

Everyone nodded.

Chiara continued, "Good. We'll write letters when we get back to the church. Gregg, once we're finished can you use your newsboy connections to direct the letters?"

Gregg nodded and said, "That's what the list in the church is there for." and smiled as the platter arrived. It contained every fruit and vegetable you could imagine, along with a second level containing sautéed shrimp for the meat-eaters (which was everyone except Gregg and Heather).

Fabio smiled, "To Phoenix Crysalys, the next Olympic band."

"Al la bando, kaj la ŝatantoj" (_To the band, and the fans_)


End file.
